In the first battle of two Filipino superstars in the Japan V.League, Marck Espejo got the better of Bryan Bagunas.
FC Tokyo finally earned its breakthrough win at the expense of home team Oita Miyoshi in straight sets, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22, Friday evening at the Showa Denko Dome.
Espejo gunned for three of his team’s 14 blocks to go with seven attacks and a service ace to finish with 11 points, and his efforts did not go down the drain this time.
Leading by just two in the first set, FC Tokyo unleashed a 7-2 blast, capped by back-to-back blocks by Espejo, to widen the gap to seven, eventually taking it, 25-17.
With imports Bagunas and Emerson Rodriguez both silenced, Weisse Adler head coach Murray Pole Ndlovu went all-local mid-second period.
Despite the massive effort from Kenta Koga in the second and third frames, Oita Miyoshi fell short in both, especially in the latter where they once held a 19-18 lead but a 7-3 swing iced the win for Tokyo.
The win forged a tie between FC Tokyo and Weisse Adler for eighth with identical 1-6 records.
Norwegian import Jonas Kvalen also made 12 points of his own. Meanwhile, middle blocker Hideyuki Kuriyama added 11 points for FC Tokyo.
On the other hand, Bagunas was limited to a season-low two points. He went just 2-of-12 in the spiking department, a poor 16.7 percent.
Koga led Oita Miyoshi with 14 points while Kota Yamada chipped in 11 points. Venezuelan import Rodriguez had just a point, playing only in the opening set.
The two squads face again tomorrow at 2:00 PM, at the same Oita arena.
